1. Field of the Invention
The patent relates to the field of surveillance systems and more particularly to surveillance systems having a user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of surveillance and security systems, one of the most expensive and visible parts of a security system is its user interface. These expensive devices need to be very impressive and interesting to end users in order to justify their high costs, and often include touch screens. Typically, in order to keep costs down, the user interfaces include inexpensive components and do not include state of the art technology. However, the touch screen user interfaces of surveillance and security systems are manufactured in smaller volume than are similar, but more widely used personal electronic devices. Thus, the touch screen user interfaces are necessarily more expensive than personal electronic devices.
For the above reasons, there is a constant balancing that occurs in the market that makes it difficult for the security system manufacture to provide what the customer perceives to be a good value. The customer expects that for a given price they can buy a security system user interface that is thin, smooth, feature-rich, and hi-tech. However, the manufacturer charges more than the customer expects for security system user interface that is thick, fairly unattractive, and feature-poor.
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the prior art is a surveillance security system in which a personal mobile electronic device, such as a tablet computer, is used as the main user interface of a security system without the use of a permanent dedicated control panel. Nor does the prior art disclose such a mobile device also being used to perform non-security functions. Further, the prior art does not disclose such a mobile device that gives higher priority to its security-related functions.